Students celebrated their return to campus at rapper T.I.’s concert to close out Bengal Bound 2018, the University’s official welcome week, on Aug. 18.
The concert, hosted by the Student Activities Board, Student Government and Campus Life, wrapped up the week of activities scheduled to get students excited about the University and encourage involvement on campus for Bengal Bound.
“Bengal Bound was extended to a week this year, so the students moved in a week early, and it really gave the opportunity for us to have bigger events like this,” SAB President Walter Scott said. “More people are encouraged to go, like the freshman on campus. We were actually reached out to by the committee to try to throw a concert.”
SAB tweeted out a poll in May, asking for student input on who should perform at the Bengal Bound 2018 concert. People could vote between Charli XCX, DNCE, T.I. and Tracy Morgan. Based on the poll, more than half of the students who voted wanted to see T.I. perform at the University. Scott said they did not expect to get as many retweets and votes as they did when they initially posted it.
“We talked to our middle agent, and they gave us a list of people who were available and in our price range, and we put them on Twitter to see who people wanted,” Scott said. “It was as simple as that. We wanted to see who really gauged interest in people. Clearly, it was T.I.”
SAB reached out to SG to use money from SG’s new initiative fund to put on the concert.
DJ C-Mix hyped up the crowd before T.I.’s performance with a mix of throwbacks and current hits, from TLC’s “No Scrubs” to Drake’s “God’s Plan.” DJ C-Mix also brought out local rapper and University fan favorite Darker Parker.
T.I. performed some of his biggest hits like “Whatever You Like,” “Live Your Life” and “Bring Em Out.” He encouraged the crowd of students to work hard to get to where they want to in life, saying that he’s living proof that any of them can do anything in the world, based on where he came from to where he is today.
At the end of the concert, T.I. brought a guest he met through the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America on stage to perform with him.
With all the hype leading up to the concert and the excitement garnered from the Twitter poll in May, students said the concert was exactly how they wanted it to be.
“It was good,” kinesiology senior Glory Ogunyinka said. “It was hype. It was what I expected from T.I.”
